Sexual health in the EuRegion Meuse-Rhine

Maastricht University is conducting research on sexual health in the EuRegion, which is the areas in and around Maastricht, Aachen, Hasselt and Liège. This includes not just the cities but also the rural areas of Limburg, Nordrrein-Westfalen and Rheinland-Pfalz.

The aim of this study is to better understand the sexual health needs of people in the region. These might be unique and different than the needs in other places. Knowing what these needs are can help to offer better prevention here, and can ultimately reduce, among other things, new HIV infections. Specifically the perspective of people living in the region is extremely important for us, which is why we’ve asked you to participate in an online interview of about an hour with Lizette Krist. To thank you for your participation, you’ll receive a €10,- voucher.

In this interview, the conversation will focus on your experiences with sexual health in the region. You will likely be asked some personal questions. If there are any questions that you are not comfortable with, please let the interviewer know. We are grateful for any and all insights that you share but you are not in any way obligated to talk about things you would rather not talk about. Likewise, if, at any time, in the interview, you want to take a break or stop altogether, that is okay. In fact, you can withdraw from this study at any time, even after the interview. There are no negative consequence and this can be done without providing any reasons.

In order to allow the interviewer to fully focus on the conversation, the interviews will be audio-recorded. Please let us know if that is fine with you. We also ask that you do the interview at a location where you feel comfortable and where you can speak openly about your experiences.

After the interview is done, the recording of the interview will be typed out so that the results can be compared. Any identifying information about you (e.g. your name) will be removed from the transcript. The information that you provide to us in the interview will be used for research but none of that information will be presented in such way that it can be traced back to you.

Only the interviewer has access to the information you give her, such as your email address, but to be able to give you the voucher we will need information such as your name, email address, and date of birth. This information will be shared with the financial department of the university and will be deleted after three months. It will not be connected to what you’ve shared during the interview in any way.

You can withdraw your consent to the use of your personal data at any time. In that case, personal data and research data will be deleted if possible. See for more information about your rights the document Personal information and privacy on the website www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/fpn/ercpn under Fast Facts.

For questions about the processing of your personal data please contact first the responsible researcher at l.krist@maastrichtuniversity.nl . You can also contact the Data Protection Officer of Maastricht University at FG@Maastrichtuniversity.nl.

If you have any further questions about this study, please feel free contact any of the researchers below. We appreciate your willingness to reflect on whether or not you would like to participate.

Kind regards,

Lizette Krist, PhD candidate, l.krist@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Hanne Zimmermann, Postdoc, h.zimmermann@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Dr. Sarah Stutterheim, Assistant Professor of Health and Social Psychology, s.stutterheim@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Prof. dr. Kai Jonas, Professor of Applied Social Psychology, kai.jonas@maastrichtuniversity.nl